


Bump in the Night

by Deku_Lily



Series: Fantasies of the Ebott Multiverse [4]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Empath, Fluff, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Nightmares, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-16 10:02:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17547569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deku_Lily/pseuds/Deku_Lily
Summary: Red is there whenever his pets need him. But which of them needs the other more?





	Bump in the Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kamari333](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kamari333/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Burlesque (Censored)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11542425) by [Kamari333](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kamari333/pseuds/Kamari333). 



> Insipired by two posts on Kamari333's Tumblr. [This one](https://kamari333.tumblr.com/post/178593098894/burlesque-question-does-red-still-have<a) and [ this one](https://kamari333.tumblr.com/post/181312937439/what-happened-to-the-plushies-lust-and-dance-got), regarding nightmares and the Burlesque Boys. 
> 
> To sum it up, it was implied that Red still has the occasional nightmare, even after he started staying with Lust overnight. I wondered if Dance would have nightmares away from his boyfriend/s, and whether Red would be affected by Dance's nightmares after collaring him. This was the result. Apologies to Kamari for botching your boys, again!
> 
> EDIT: Fixed the links! They ought to work, now. Thank goodness I decided to check...

* * *

 

Red woke up, not really knowing why. Judging from the lack of light in Lust’s room, it was still the middle of the night. _Not even dawn…_ Red almost went back to sleep, but a quick check on his pets quickly revealed why he’d awakened.

 

Lust was fine, sleeping contentedly, but Dance was _terrified._ _Anguish, loathing_ and a sense of hopeless _rage_ were all flooding their bond and Red wanted to know why. _Right fucking now!_ He rolled out of bed, a growl rumbling in his chest as his feet hit the floor. He barely heard Lust make a sound of confusion before he shortcut away, landing in Dance’s room.

 

His kitten sat on the bed, hunched over with his hood covering his skull. He twitched as Red erected a bone cage and threw an arm around him, ready to shortcut the both of them away from whatever (or whoever) had scared Dance so badly. Red held him close and looked over his shoulder, prepared to _kill the piece of shit that made his pet feel this way._ With one knee on the bed and half his body draped over Dance, Red finally saw that they were alone with the disorganized mess that was eerily similar to the one in his old room, back in the Underground. _What the fuck was going on?_

 

Dance’s arms wrapped around his ribs and Red dismissed his constructs. His confusion rose, but he put it aside in favor of Checking his pet. Dance’s HP was fine, but he shivered as he held Red with desperate strength. Since the room seemed to be clear Red sat beside the panicking skeleton, who moved into his lap. He pulled the hood down to gently run a hand over his boyfriend’s skull as the other rubbed his back. After listening to Dance breathe shakily he started murmuring softly, willing to do anything to make the man in his arms feel even a tiny bit better.

 

“yer a’aight, kitten. yer ok. ‘m here. jus’ like i promised, yeah? ’s ok…”

 

After what felt like forever (two, three minutes, tops), Dance finally started to calm down. Of course that had to be the moment his phone went off, startling the both of them. Red could feel the _worry_ coming from Lust’s collar as the phone rang and rang…

 

Dance gave his ribs once last squeeze before turning his back to Red’s front, facing the head of his bed. Red didn’t let go, which Dance encouraged by holding his arms where they were, wrapped around his chest. Using blue magic with his other hand, he retrieved the phone from where it sat beside the watermelon-shaped plushie. Without checking the caller ID, he opened the phone and dully said, “hey, babe.”

 

 _Relief_ from Lust hit Red like a sack of bricks, even as the mess inside Dance continued to coil. He couldn’t hear what his sweetheart was saying, but whatever it was both soothed and made it worse at the damn same time. Dance was just so… _so contrary, what the fuck!_ He stopped thinking as Dance spoke once more.

 

“red’s with me. …yeah. ...yeah… …move over to one side of the bed.”

 

Red could feel Lust’s _confusion_ , but he apparently did as he was told. Dance said “see ya soon,” then leaned hard into Red. Going along with it, he felt himself being pushed through a shortcut as he fell backward.

 

The two of them landed Lust’s bed, Dance on top of Red. Looking to their right, they found their datemate still holding his phone, blinking at their sudden appearance before his _relief_ redoubled and he closed his phone.

 

“dance! red! you guys ok? is everything alright?”

 

Dance wordlessly closed his phone as Lust reached for him. He rolled halfway off Red as he pulled Lust down, squeezing tight as he buried his face in Lust’s neck. As he nuzzled the collar steeped in Red’s magic and breathed in Lust’s scent, he pulled Red’s arm to wrap it around the two of them. Red let him, spooning Dance as he gathered his pets into his arms. He covered them with the blanket, keeping Dance as warm as possible.

 

Red could feel that Lust was worried. He was, too. Dance wasn’t exactly eloquent when he was stressed, but he was being unusually quiet. It was unnerving, but _he couldn’t afford to dwell on that. His kitten didn’t need him losing his shit and making things worse! Thank fuck Lust was so much better at comforting people._ Which he did with gentle stroking, soft kisses and his natural _warmth._ Red just focused on sending all the calming intent he could muster to the collars. He threw in the rusty engine noise for good measure, just because they liked it (for whatever reason.)

 

Eventually, the storm inside Dance calmed enough to where he could breathe normally. His collar told Red he was still _frustrated_ about something, though he couldn’t begin to guess what. Dance gave Lust an appreciative kiss, then lifted Red’s hand to kiss the backs of his metacarpals. He then sunk into the bed with a sigh, obviously tired.

 

With a soft smile, Lust asked him, “feelin’ better, baby?” Dance nodded, grunting an affirmative as he snuggled back into Lust’s shoulder. After sharing a glance with Red over his head, Lust asked, “d’you wanna talk about it?”

 

Dance shook his head. Lust pat him on the back and said “ok” as Red rolled his eye light, half in exasperation and half in fondness. _Stubborn little grease monkey…_ Although he and Lust were still worried, neither of them wanted to force Dance to relive whatever upset him in the first place, so they settled down, too. But as they did, Dance let out a heavy sigh.

 

“i’m fine, guys,” he said. “i really am. it was just a bad dream. a stupid, _fuckin’_ dream and-!” He grit his teeth together, silencing himself. His _frustration_ mounted and Red felt a pang in his soul as his kitten once again shoved his face in Lust’s shoulder. It was a feeling Red had known, himself…

 

The first time he had a nightmare after he started dating Lust, he’d kicked himself for hours afterward. He was safe, his sweetheart was safe… there’d been no reason to have one, yet he had. Right beside the person that had given him a safe haven. It was a fucking miracle he didn’t wake Lust up! He didn’t want to look weak in front of either Lust _or_ Dance, and nothing weakened a guy the way constant bad dreams did.

 

The hopelessness that tried to creep in and break him for a long time afterward. Feeling like his fate was out of his hands, no matter how hard he tried to grasp it. Feeling lonely, because he _knew_ nobody would ever understand. As the days and years went by, it became hard to try at all, for any reason. And then Lust came along and chased it all away… mostly. While it was a shit-ton better than what he’d dealt with before they met, to keep having nightmares _at all_ was frustrating as hell.

 

So, yeah, he could kind of get what Dance was going through.

 

Instead of saying all that mushy crap, though, Red just let out a huff before muttering “nightmares fuckin’ suck.” He must have done something right, because Dance laughed. It sounded a little bitter, but there was genuine humor in it, too. It was a relief to hear.

 

Nothing more was said, after that. Dance stroked Red’s metacarpals as he and Lust nuzzled each other. The three of them laid there, reveling in each others’ warmth as the siren’s call of sleep lulled them back into its embrace. The morning would bring its fair share of bullshit, but for right now things were good. Red knew that, because something peculiar happened when the three of them slept in the same room; no nightmare ever plagued him when they were together.

 

As he drifted off, he hoped it was the same for his ~~precious~~ kitten.

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> -Dance was probably dreaming about The Hallway, only this time his boyfriends were there. "Nuuuu they're dead! Why couldn't I save them?! Why does that FUCKING KID have to have that power?!" etc.
> 
> -He woke up about a second before Red arrived. He will forever associate that growl with safety, now.
> 
> -Dance's mixed feelings while talking to Lust are mostly because he's thinking "I wish I wasn't like this. Neither boyfriend deserves the mess that is me but by god do I need them I'm disgusting." etc.
> 
> -Lust is normally a heavy sleeper, but Red's departure was a rude awakening.
> 
> -The summary is what it is because the three of them are a dumpster fire and their needs compliment one another SO well.


End file.
